1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the storage of digital data objects. More particularly, the invention concerns the reconfiguration of data objects containing unused space to facilitate more efficient compression of the data objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
The electronic exchange of data is central in this information era. Scientists and engineers have provided the necessary infrastructure for widespread public availability of an incredible volume of information. The internet is one chief example. In addition, the high-technology industry is continually achieving faster and more diverse methods for transmitting and receiving data. Some examples include satellite communications and the ever-increasing baud rates of commercially available computer modems.
Along with this explosive exchange of information, it is increasingly important for users to have a similarly advanced means for storing their data. Thus, the development of electronic data storage systems is now more important than ever. And, engineers have squarely met the persistent challenge of customer demand by providing speedier and more reliable storage systems.
As an example, engineers at INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES.RTM. (IBM.RTM.) have developed various flexible systems called "storage management servers"designed to store and manage data for remotely located clients. One particular system is called the ADSTAR.TM. Distributed Storage Manager (ADSM.TM.) product. With the ADSM product, a central server is coupled to multiple client platforms and one or more administrators. The server provides storage, backup, retrieval, and other management functions for the server's clients.
Although the ADSM product includes some significant advances and also enjoys significant commercial success today, IBM has continually sought to improve the performance and efficiency of this and other data storage systems. One area of particular focus is the efficient use of data storage spaces which is important for a number of reasons. Concerned with cost-effectiveness, customers prefer to purchase as little storage as possible to fulfill their needs. Customers also wish to avoid running out of space. Additionally, in the case of removable media such a tape, customers strive to avoid inefficient data storage because it is more expensive to access broadly distributed or "spread out" data, due to greater input/output ("I/O") demands. A robotic transport mechanism, for example, may have to load and unload tapes more often because otherwise compact data is scattered over many different tapes.
Although some useful solutions have been proposed for these problems, IBM is nevertheless seeking better ways of addressing these problems to further improve the performance and the efficiency of its products to benefit its customers.